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Failed by Public Education, These Boys Are Now Thriving Due to New Learning Opportunities

The idea of one-size-fits-all education is being discredited at the same time Common Core endorses that very idea. Common Core seeks to put schools even further into a box, and that is one of the reasons that non-traditional forms of schooling are gaining in popularity.

Last week, 13 year-old Logan Laplante gave a Tedx talk on nontraditional education. Logan was taken out of mainstream schools at age 9 and went into homeschooling or, as he calls it, hackschooling. He says that people ask him what he wants to be when he grows up, and he doesn’t know, he just wants to be happy. he thinks he can get there by being a hacker. Not a computer hacker but, as he sees it “hackers are innovators.” So, he doesn’t use a curriculum and takes advantage of whatever opportunities come his way to learn through experience. He says that these “hacks” allow his education to be “flexible and opportunistic,” and says that traditional schools should take on this model, too. As an example, he says he used to hate to write, because the topics were never interesting to him. Now that he can write about skiing, he loves writing.

“Once you’re motivated to learn something, you can get a lot done in a short amount of time,” Logan said.

One of his learning hacks was visiting a ski factory, and he’s been inspired, thinking he might want to own his own business. Logan closed by saying “I’m starting to think I might know what I want to do when I want to grow up but, if you ask me what do I want to be when I grow up, I’ll always know that I want to be happy.”

Another popular Tedx in favor of non-traditional schooling was the speech by Jacob Barnett, who was spectacularly failed by public schools. When Jacob was put into special education classes, his parents knew something was wrong and took him out of public schooling. He then taught himself all of high school math in 2 weeks (at the age of 10) and is now on track to finish college by the age of 14. Oh, and he has an IQ higher than that of Albert Einstein.

Jacob wasn’t having trouble learning elementary curriculum, he was bored out of his mind, and his teachers didn’t notice. “In order to succeed,” he says “you have to look at everything with your own unique perspective.” As Jacob says, you have to stop learning and start thinking, then creating.

These are very different stories, but they’re also very much the same. These are two boys who were failed by American public education, and who had parents that removed them from this environment while being told that they would harm their children. Both of these kids are, clearly, doing incredibly well. One-size-fits-all schooling has had its day, and stories like this are hurrying that along; better late than never.

As the recent hearing in the Texas legislature shows, the school choice debate is far from over. The Texas House of Representatives faces pressure from public school administrators and teachers unions on one end and school choice proponents on the other.

Last month's proposed rules on school accountability are yet another reminder that it’s time for federal bureaucrats at the Department of Education to get their hands out of our education system. In its latest power grab, the department seeks to enact top-down measures that would remove authority from the hands of teachers, school districts, and state government. The regulation would impose Education Department-mandated accountability measures promulgating federal government oversight over student and school achievement.

Yesterday's proposed rules on school accountability are yet another reminder that it’s time for federal bureaucrats at the Department of Education to get their hands out of our education system. In its latest power-grab, the department seeks to enact top-down measures that would remove authority from the hands of teachers, school districts, and state government. The regulation would impose Education Department-mandated accountability measures promulgating federal government oversight over student and school achievement.

Common Core Fails, but Education Department Tries to Silence Critics
This month we are in the middle of what the Department of Education educrats have labelled as “Testing Season.” That’s right. It’s not duck season, it’s not rabbit season, it’s Testing Season. As hundreds of thousands of students opt out of Common Core testing, teachers are weighing the professional risks of speaking out against this testing. Instead of fixing the problems with Common Core and its myriad of regulations, Education Department bureaucrats have resorted to shooting the messengers – our nation’s teachers. Perhaps Testing Season should be renamed Hunting Season.

A local school principal's recent suicide has rocked her Harlem community to the core, shockingly though, the suicide was not the only incident found to be a part of an even larger scandal regarding recent standardized testing. According to the New York Post:

Governor Kate Brown of Oregon has just signed a bill (HB 2655) that would allow parents to opt their children out of the standardized tests that have come as part of the Common Core education standards in the state. Parents can cite any reason they choose for their opt-out decision, and the state is required to inform them ahead of time of their options.

One of the most exciting school choice options for parents just got a big boost in Nevada, with Governor Brian Sandoval signing into law the most comprehensive Education Savings Account plan in the country.

As Scott Walker tours the country on his campaign for the presidency, he has not forsaken his state, turning in a budget that would make important reforms in education policy. It’s beyond the scope of this piece to analyze the budget in full - it contains rather more spending and borrowing than most conservatives would like - but in the area of education reform it takes some pretty important steps forward.

Children are unique little snowflakes. Each one is different, with their own strengths, weaknesses and personalities. What’s more, they’re flexible, meaning that there’s not a single approach that works best for any given child. There are a wide variety of educational styles that can work equally well in molding a functional and successful young adult, right?

For the last several months, FreedomWorks has been part of a broad coalition dedicated to improving educational choice in Virginia. Over the last month, FreedomWorks activists in Virginia have made over 125 calls to targeted state legislators to strongly encourage support for HB 2238.